Today MnDOT officially released the draft 50-year vision as part of Minnesota GO. The vision was developed with input from the public and diverse representatives of the transportation community who participated in advisory group meetings, public workshops and online (that's you!) during the past several months.

It's important to hear from you. MnDOT and other transportation organizations will use the vision and information from this project in developing short-term and long-term plans. The vision will offer guidance in determining the transportation initiatives that the state chooses for investment.

Sidewalks, as the word suggests, tend to form the side of the street, and are thereby vulnerable to closures forced by adjacent activities, like construction. Hennepin Ave pedestrians are all too familiar with this vulnerability, having recently endured 17 months of complete and total closure of one of the busiest sidewalks in town, the sidewalk on Hennepin that connects the 6th St bus stop with the Warehouse District LRT station.

But things are looking up on Hennepin Ave. The construction of a new Lunds at 13th & Hennepin has forced the closure of the sidewalk, but someone looked logically at the 60-some feet devoted to through traffic and thought that maybe some of that space could be reallocated to pedestrians.

Ever since my first dispatch from the road I have been mentioning (complaining?) about the weight of the stuff I’ve been hauling over mountain passes, through canyons, and to places that are in the middle of nowhere. I decided I would throw a bone to the cyclists in the crowd as the question I most frequently asked to anyone I could catch on cycling tour before starting the Ride the Talk campaign was, “What item is the most valuable to you on your trip?”

It is amazing how after a few days of travel you discover what is important and what is just dead weight. As one cyclist put it, “Whatever you discover in the bottom of you panniers at the end of the trip is what you didn’t need.” I decided not to wait until the end of the trip to tell you what’s risen to the top. Read more >

Twin Cities Streets for People is entering a new era, and we'd like your help in making the transition. Regular readers may have noticed a few new names popping up on this site in the last few weeks. A discussion initiated by David Levinson (The Transportationist) early last month has brought several Minnesota bloggers together with aspirations of making a local version of something like Greater Greater Washington or the Streetsblog family of websites. TCSP already has a mission similar to those outlets, so we decided to make use of existing infrastructure rather than attempting to make something completely new. This lets us get moving more quickly.

However, a few changes are in the pipeline—first among these is a new name. "Twin Cities Streets for People" sends a positive message, but there's a sense among many of us that it's a bit cumbersome. So, what would you like to see as the name of the premier Minnesota/Twin Cities site related to placemaking, sustainability, and other urban planning topics?

Here's a list of nominees we've selected:

streets.mn

strongermn.org / .com

minnurbia.org

improve.mn / improvemn.org

mnstreets.org

mnurbanism.org

places.mn

Please give us your vote in the comments! Voting will run until the end of the day on Wednesday, September 28th. Read more >

The median looking South where it crosses the tracks at Hamline Avenue.

Pierce Butler is a really busy road where cars move north of 50 mph. It's also a bike route with sidewalks and houses alongside it. So its really important to have pedestrian safety infrastructure such as crosswalks and medians.

St Paul just installed one of these at the Hamline Avenue pedestrian bridge, where it crosses the railroad tracks leading into Bandana Square. And it looks nice!

About 150 miles south of Miles City lies a place, “conveniently located in the middle of no place.” It’s called Alazada, Montana, and is home to the Stoneville Saloon and not much else (there is also a convenience store and post office). The Saloon is a place that one must really visit in person to get the real story but I’ll do my best to portray how, despite first appearances, the Saloon is a safe haven of friendliness and is doing it’s part to be a bit “greener". Read more >

The images displayed below are of 7 Corners in St. Paul, but it might as well be Anywhere, USA. The last 47 years haven’t been kind to the district adjacent to downtown. In fact, it transformed from a neighborhood of small businesses, quaint houses and small apartment blocks into an open surface parking lot for a convention center. Read more >

When beginning to build my Ride the Talk campaign for need-based scholarships for the students of MCAD’s Sustainable Design program, I stumbled upon a cool Kickstarter campaign for the Backcountry Boiler. Devin Montgomery, a young designer turned entrepreneur, raised three times his Kickstarter fundraising goal with the help of over 500 backers to turn his sustainable design concept into reality. I was immediately enamored by Devin’s product, "a light and simple way to carry and efficiently heat water in the outdoors using just about any fuel that you can find." Read more >

Bicycles rule the roads, shops and colorful awnings line the sidewalks and horse carriages gallivant freely down the congestion-free roadways. It looks kitsch, but it isn’t. It’s actually a working small town – albeit one that relies nearly exclusively on tourism.

Ignoring the volatility of the tourist-driven economy, Mackinac Island looks stronger and healthier than any small town I’ve seen. It succeeds where most small towns fail – it provides an urban environment worthy of human affection. Read more >

A car parking on the sidewalk outside Grand Avenue Liquors in St Paul.

I guess places like this get somehow "grandfathered in," but it never ceases to amaze me that some parts of the Twin Cities condone (and apparently legalize) turning the sidewalk into extra parking spaces for cars.

This example comes from the Grand Avenue Liquor Store in St Paul, where drivers continue to park on the sidewalk despite the store's own parking lot being located 30 feet away, across the street.

Fair use notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental and public policy issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Twin Cities Streets for People is the combined work of citizens contributing their ideas and insights to help create a more sustainable and people-oriented transportation framework for our region. To join us, please use our contact form >